Use these common foods in your kitchen to make beautiful pastel food dyes.

Food coloring allows us to give new life to intricately decorated sugar cookies, gelatin desserts and icing used to decorate layered cakes and cupcakes, and much more. It’s a fun way to spice up a recipe. But many store-bought food dyes are made from synthetic chemicals, and to be honest, they don’t taste very nice. Natural food dyes are an easy alternative to make at home. It’s easy to turn everyday fruits, vegetables, and spices into liquid or powdered food coloring that you’ll enjoy using in all your baking projects. We spoke with longtime Martha Stewart contributor and baking expert Jason Schreiber to get his expert tips.

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Meet Our Expert

Jason Schreiberfood stylist, recipe developerand its author Fruitcake: Recipes for the Curious Baker.

Natural Food Coloring Types

Like other food dyes natural food coloring It comes in two forms: liquid or powder. What matters is what material you use to make the paint. Something like beetroot or carrot juice (or really any other liquid) will need to be reduced to a concentrated syrup first. Powders are easily made by grinding the ingredients into a fine powder.

Liquid

If you’ve used liquid food coloring before, you’ve probably noticed that this type can be quite thick, especially gel-based options that resemble the consistency of honey. Natural liquid food colorings are most often made with fruit and vegetable juice or fruit puree (this could be something like fruit that has been cooked, pureed, and strained through a sieve to release some of the moisture). Water-based paints are also not uncommon; these are caused by something like blooming or brewing. saffron threadscoffee grounds or tea in water.

In both cases, the liquid must be reduced to concentrate the color. When reducing something like fruit juice or freshly squeezed turmeric, Schreiber notes that you may encounter a number of complications, including discoloration. “Most natural dyes will lose their vibrancy and can even turn brown when heated,” he says. This doesn’t mean it’s not possible. The first step is to adjust your expectations accordingly. Natural food dyes will never be as vibrant as those using synthetic dyes, so no matter what ingredients you use, you’ll end up with a much duller color palette. But the best way to preserve the integrity of the color of the ingredients is to reduce the liquid as slowly as possible.

tips

Since discoloration is a distinct possibility with liquid dyes, Schreiber suggests that natural dyes in liquid or powder form are the best option for applications that will not be heated. royal icing or buttercream.

Dust

Since powder paints do not need to be heated, there is no risk of losing their color tones. “I’ve had the best success using ingredients that are already ‘concentrated’ in color, like powdered freeze-dried fruit, spirulina, and turmeric,” says Schreiber. He notes that powders can be very effective because the colors are already vibrant and don’t have much of an impact on the texture of the final product.

Many fruits and vegetables can be purchased in powder form; otherwise it can be freeze dried and pulverized in a coffee or spice grinder until very fine.

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Materials to be Used in Natural Food Coloring

The world is your proverbial oyster when it comes to the foods you choose to achieve every color of the rainbow. Schreiber makes a very important observation: Many natural dyes change color when reacted with acids (such as lemon juice or vinegar) or bases (such as baking soda). It is common practice when using natural dyes on fabric or yarn to adjust the pH of the solution to achieve different color effects, and the same is true when using natural food colorants. For example, an acid causes purple cabbage liquid to turn a red hue; a base, blue. Likewise, the acid will turn the turmeric juice into an even more intense orange color; a base, yellow.

Below are some content ideas you can use to create delicate colors.

• Red: Beetroot juice, tomato juice, purple cabbage juice mixed with acid

• Pink: Strawberry or raspberry puree, powdered, freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries

• Orange: Turmeric juice mixed with acid, carrot juice, sweet potato puree, red pepper

• Yellow: Turmeric juice mixed with a base, ground turmeric and saffron

• Green: Matcha powder, green spirulina, spinach puree

• Blue: Purple cabbage juice mixed with a base, blue spirulina

• Purple: Blueberry juice (note that it tends to burn or brown when cooked), blueberry puree, purple sweet potato puree

• Brown: Espresso, brewed tea, cocoa powder

tips

Although activated charcoal is often used to create a deep black hue, this can be a dangerous practice, Schreiber warns. Activated charcoal is used medically to absorb ingested toxins and can also absorb some medications, rendering them ineffective.

How to Make Food Coloring?

For liquid food dyesStart by reducing the juice or infused liquid (like tea or coffee):

1. Place a glass of liquid in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer, skimming off any foam that may form at the top until the liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup.

2. Let it cool completely, then use about one teaspoon of reduction per 1 cup of frosting or frosting.

For powder food coloring:

• If you’re not using an ingredient that’s already powdered, place the ingredient (like freeze-dried fruit) in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely powdered.

• Use 1-2 teaspoons of powder per cup of cream. Optionally, you can dissolve these powders in 1-2 tablespoons of water before use.

How to Store Natural Food Coloring?

To store liquid dyes, transfer them to separate airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. Note: As they get older they may begin to lose some of their vitality.

If handled correctly, powder coatings can last for several years at room temperature in airtight containers.